St. Peadrus MacCallion Exchange Program REBOOTED (IC)

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:37 pm

Verity was surprised to see Ludoviga in the bathroom, in fact she has been trying to avoid her. Not out fear or anything, but out of not being so eager to risk ending up in a physical fight with Ludoviga and getting her own uniform ruffled. But, here she was. Verity wasn't exactly going to stand for her imply that she should aplogize without giving her a piece of her mind.

"Firstly, Lud, I didn't even know that you were in the bathroom, I just here to use it."

Verity, ever cautious, (didn't want to get her uniform too dirty, now) walked to a rack, took off her shirt and jacket, then hung them there, along with hanging her tolieties pack. This left her in her in sports corset, bra, skirt and knee height black athletic socks. Looking at herself in the mirror in comparison to Ludoviga was satisfying, Verity felt as if she could almost snap her in two.

Verity then began pacing in the bathroom behind Ludoviga, making sure to stay in her view in the mirror, while making sure to point at her for every 'you' she'd utter.

"Secondly, me, apologize? To you? I apologized to the girl you were talking to for giggling and I apologized to your brother for his needing to restrain you, before you got yourself hurt. But what have I've got to apologize to you for? I only returned insults for the insults you threw at me, if there's anyone who needs to apologize, it's you, to me, and funnily enough, you're the only involved who hasn't apologized at all. "

Before continuing, Verity made sure to walk up behind Ludoviga, just beyond arms length, intentionally taking an aggressive stance, similar to how she first approached her in the cafeteria, no longer pointing for emphasis, keeping her hands firmly on her own hips.

"Thirdly, finish you off? Oh sweetheart, you were the one dragged out, crying, in front of the whole cafeteria, on your first day of school here. As far as I'm concerned, I've already finished you off, unless, you want to continue." Said Verity allowing her virgninian accent to come through, her hands on her hips, curled into fists.

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:36 am

Cybernetic Socialist Republics wrote:
Verity was surprised to see Ludoviga in the bathroom, in fact she has been trying to avoid her. Not out fear or anything, but out of not being so eager to risk ending up in a physical fight with Ludoviga and getting her own uniform ruffled. But, here she was. Verity wasn't exactly going to stand for her imply that she should aplogize without giving her a piece of her mind.

"Firstly, Lud, I didn't even know that you were in the bathroom, I just here to use it."

Verity, ever cautious, (didn't want to get her uniform too dirty, now) walked to a rack, took off her shirt and jacket, then hung them there, along with hanging her tolieties pack. This left her in her in sports corset, bra, skirt and knee height black athletic socks. Looking at herself in the mirror in comparison to Ludoviga was satisfying, Verity felt as if she could almost snap her in two.

Verity then began pacing in the bathroom behind Ludoviga, making sure to stay in her view in the mirror, while making sure to point at her for every 'you' she'd utter.

"Secondly, me, apologize? To you? I apologized to the girl you were talking to for giggling and I apologized to your brother for his needing to restrain you, before you got yourself hurt. But what have I've got to apologize to you for? I only returned insults for the insults you threw at me, if there's anyone who needs to apologize, it's you, to me, and funnily enough, you're the only involved who hasn't apologized at all. "

Before continuing, Verity made sure to walk up behind Ludoviga, just beyond arms length, intentionally taking an aggressive stance, similar to how she first approached her in the cafeteria, no longer pointing for emphasis, keeping her hands firmly on her own hips.

"Thirdly, finish you off? Oh sweetheart, you were the one dragged out, crying, in front of the whole cafeteria, on your first day of school here. As far as I'm concerned, I've already finished you off, unless, you want to continue." Said Verity allowing her virgninian accent to come through, her hands on her hips, curled into fists.

Ludoviga watched as Verity moved around behind her, as if she was sizing her up. The way she spoke, it's condescending and arrogant tone and her mannerisms reeked of typical American. Probably an affluent one at that. She continued to look in the mirror as she spoke to Verity "Well, fine." she sighed "Calma, Garibaldi. I apologize for my 'vacca puttana' comment. I will not, however, take back calling you a bitch. I could have said a nicer word, sure, but your tone and mannerisms speaks for itself. American? Is daddy a governor or something?"

She moved from the sink area went to go get her shirt and jacket, she spoke again as she was putting them on "First, it's Ludoviga. Second, apologize for what you said. For what you called me. Hopefully I'll repair my image from this morning through the semester, but what you said, your insults, it affected my honor. Apologize to me, Rocco does not speak for me or I for him. And third, I was definitely not crying in the cafeteria. Rocco took me to the hall and..how they say..'straightened me out' a little. That's why I was crying." she honestly didn't remember the sequence of events that well, it was already losing traction in her mind, occupied with other things. "ONMI taught me to be a good little girl, so that is what I am trying to be now. Peace?"

by **Hanoverian Great Britain** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:43 am

Surely enough, as she was passing through the outside of the bathroom door, Mary could clearly hear bits of womanly voice that seemed to make out an argument. Regardless, she chose to ignore it and continued her way down.

Once she reached her room, her steps led her inside as she grasped the emptiness of her surrounding, quite and peaceful. In a few minutes, with herself on her bed, she quickly had her sister on the line, "Hey Allie, how are you doing with the quarantine, I got some big news!".

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:51 am

Verity moved in front of Ludoviga, though still just out of arms length, intentionally block her path toward the doorway and out of the bathroom, if Ludoviga approached her, she wouldn't step back and if she tried to side step her, Verity would shift to the side.

"I accept your apology for calling me a 'vacca puttana'. However, I do take offense to idea that my conﬁdence comes from who my father is, who while not a governor, is in a prominent position. Unlike you, I don't need the males in my life to give me my worth or ﬁght my battles, they've been secure enough in their manhood to teach me to do so myself."

Verity didn't know exactly what Ludoviga's country was like, but the pieces of conversation she heard while passing by her table, along with how she and her brother acted, left her think that it was a fair to assume that it was a very much patriarchal country.

"You say that I've insulted your honor, so I should apologize not just to your brother, but to you, as if you even have any honor separate from him to insult. I saw how he dragged you off, less like equal siblings and more like an owner tugging his dog by the leash before she gets her snout kicked in attempting to lunge for a bite. I'm sure that you've been taught to be a good little girl, but by what I've seen from you suggests that behavior only comes from your learning to submit to your betters."

What Verity said was not outside the scope of her own principles. Sure like a good citizen of the UCSR, she believed very much in the basic humane equality of people, but she also taught that it could only be protected in the presence of justiﬁed merit based hierarchy and Verity, perhaps to a fault, put heavy emphasis on the last part. She couldn't help but notice that Ludoviga as a whole lot more assertive while being under the watchful eye of of her brother, but now, alone, with Verity, she was more eager to apologize, her remaining objections seemed more like whining. If Ludoviga was going to be like this, might as well treat her like she must have been accustomed to.

"So to you? I'll give you no apology, especially not while you still have it in you to call me a bitch and not before you make it up to me for your disrespectfulness. Then, I might have it within me to show you some pity and humor you with an apology." Verity made sure to use as condescending a tone as possible. How Ludoviga responded to Verity's actions would very much effect what she'd do next.

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:41 pm

Cybernetic Socialist Republics wrote:Verity moved in front of Ludoviga, though still just out of arms length, intentionally block her path toward the doorway and out of the bathroom, if Ludoviga approached her, she wouldn't step back and if she tried to side step her, Verity would shift to the side.

"I accept your apology for calling me a 'vacca puttana'. However, I do take offense to idea that my conﬁdence comes from who my father is, who while not a governor, is in a prominent position. Unlike you, I don't need the males in my life to give me my worth or ﬁght my battles, they've been secure enough in their manhood to teach me to do so myself."

Verity didn't know exactly what Ludoviga's country was like, but the pieces of conversation she heard while passing by her table, along with how she and her brother acted, left her think that it was a fair to assume that it was a very much patriarchal country.

"You say that I've insulted your honor, so I should apologize not just to your brother, but to you, as if you even have any honor separate from him to insult. I saw how he dragged you off, less like equal siblings and more like an owner tugging his dog by the leash before she gets her snout kicked in attempting to lunge for a bite. I'm sure that you've been taught to be a good little girl, but by what I've seen from you suggests that behavior only comes from your learning to submit to your betters."

What Verity said was not outside the scope of her own principles. Sure like a good citizen of the UCSR, she believed very much in the basic humane equality of people, but she also taught that it could only be protected in the presence of justiﬁed merit based hierarchy and Verity, perhaps to a fault, put heavy emphasis on the last part. She couldn't help but notice that Ludoviga as a whole lot more assertive while being under the watchful eye of of her brother, but now, alone, with Verity, she was more eager to apologize, her remaining objections seemed more like whining. If Ludoviga was going to be like this, might as well treat her like she must have been accustomed to.

"So to you? I'll give you no apology, especially not while you still have it in you to call me a bitch and not before you make it up to me for your disrespectfulness. Then, I might have it within me to show you some pity and humor you with an apology." Verity made sure to use as condescending a tone as possible. How Ludoviga responded to Verity's actions would very much effect what she'd do next.

Ludoviga sighed in frustration as Verity moved in front of her, blocking the exit. "Submit to my betters? Who? You? That is laughable. I have no betters, no equals, only superiors and inferiors. And you are not a superior of mine. ONMI was also a high society environment, so they told me to stay way from rural women, who are more man than woman in terms of attitude. I should have listened, if I did I wouldn't be in this predicament now." since she was blocked from leaving, she paced a bit. "And you are right, me and my brother are not equal, he is my superior here. Nor would I want to be his equal. Noblewomen live much easier lives than noblemen. Why would I care about equal when it is much easier not to be."

She walked closer to Verity with a scoff "And this? This will make me think you are less than a bitch? Blocking my exit. Fine, don't apologize, I don't care. Just get out of my way now."

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:52 pm

"Well, then if you take your submissiveness to your brother so seriously, you shouldn't have bother ask me for an apology."

Verity backed a bit away from Ludoviga, but still making sure to block her.

"Additionally, don't you dare think me some rural bumpkin redneck by my accent, I'm from a well educated, city family. One that didn't need to gain their prestige from some parasitical inherited 'noble title'. Lastly, don't confuse your own frailty for womanhood, but sure, I'll get out of your way, noblewoman" said Verity, with a malicious smirk.

Verity headed for her toiletries pack, but as she closely passed Ludoviga, Verity sucker punched her in the gut, wanting to at least knock the wind out of her, but if Verity was lucky, she'd cause her to vomit all over the uniform Ludoviga just put on.

Verity turned back around to observe Ludoviga's reaction, walking backwards until Verity stood between her own uniform and Ludoviga.

"Oh, actually, another thing, you shouldn't have thought I'd just let you get away with calling me 'more man than woman'. Now run along, Lady Ludoviga, if you can hold in your breakfest." Verity giggled, using a shooing away hand motion as she mockingly curtsied to Ludoviga.

by **Normudria** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm

"You make a fair point, Rocco. I'm sorry to try and leave. I just want to get the rest of my things ready before I left for school today, you know?" Siobhán recognized the coldness behind Rocco's smile, but she tried to just play it off and avoid anything. "Smoke? Uh... I used to—But wait. You don't want to me to leave the table, but you want to leave and smoke? Curious." She said this with a smile, sitting back down at the table. "I'm assuming that you do smoke, though?"

Inside, Siobhán was hoping to be able to break away from Rocco as soon as possible and get her stuff. She didn't like the idea of being pushed around by this guy when she had stuff to do, especially when she wasn't his sibling. To try and make a subtle point of this, she checked the watch on her arm.

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:33 am

Ludoviga doubled over on wall, with the wind knocked of her she took a couple of deep breaths. Thank goodness she didn't eat anything. "Maldetta stronza! You f-" Ludoviga stopped herself. She could feel her eye leak yet again as a couple of drops fell to the floor. "Fuck this" she thought to herself. She'd rather go to her room and clean it than stay in the bathroom with this cunt. Standing up straight again, she began to laugh and in her worst effort, tried to mock up a southern accent "Gitty up partner, we gon' down to the farm. Unlce Cletus got a new wife at da family reunion." she laughed even harder.

Ludoviga looked at Verity once more and gave a kiss in her direction and smiled, finally leaving the bathroom. She laughed again and "mooed" as she left, calling back to both the insults of calling Verity a cow and her apparent ruralness, in Ludoviga's mind. Which to her was true, in a sense. Not only Verity's manners, or lack thereof, but her size in comparison to Ludoviga's. In Lux Pulchrae while noblewomen had a tendency to be petite, although not always the case, rural women tended to be bigger. Not fat or anything, just...bigger. They helped in the fields, with animals, supported large families on damn near their breasts alone. Some noblewomen would've delegated the nursing to the wet-nurses offered by ONMI, even if they did encourage mothers to do their own part. As she walked to her room, Ludoviga mooed and laughed all the way there. Entering her room, she threw herself on the bed and sighed.

"Eh? Of course I smoke, 'alf the guys my age smoke. If you are old enough you upgrade to a cigar. If you are really old, you'll go for a pipe. And if you are a fag you do those electric things like vaporizers and things like that. They are making their way into the market over there, only few fall for it. But uh...you can leave, you cannot leave. Do what you wish. I just want to stay 'ere. I won't stop you signorina." he shrugged, setting his arms on the table, taking a sip from his water bottle.

by **Folaisia** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:34 am

Alpin headed back into the dining room, exhaling a relieved sigh as he passes through the entrance. As he heads towards his table, he spots Suuentliok consuming her meal, and with this initial glance, he stands, turning his head to ruminate his next actions. Finally, with curiosity and compassion overtaking his apprehensions, Alpin adjusts his glasses and heads over to her with a smile.

"Hullo there, Miss Suuentliok. Your breakfast satisfying your stomach," he asks, "I see you have the herb-decorated square sausage. A good meat dish, I must say. Still have to finish a plate of it myself."

by **Greater vakolicci haven** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:08 am

Folaisia wrote:Alpin headed back into the dining room, exhaling a relieved sigh as he passes through the entrance. As he heads towards his table, he spots Suuentliok consuming her meal, and with this initial glance, he stands, turning his head to ruminate his next actions. Finally, with curiosity and compassion overtaking his apprehensions, Alpin adjusts his glasses and heads over to her with a smile.

"Hullo there, Miss Suuentliok. Your breakfast satisfying your stomach," he asks, "I see you have the herb-decorated square sausage. A good meat dish, I must say. Still have to finish a plate of it myself."

Suuentliok

"I've had pretty much everything," Suuentliok responded. She ate a lot, she wouldn't deny that. She didn't eat rudely, shovelling food into her mouth, but it certainly did go down fast: she was just able to perform a polite eating action quicker than most people. "When I came down I just heard the people screaming each other and decided not to bother with that, as you can...probably see when I'm eating I struggle to talk to people anyway. Sorry about before by the way...where I'm from it's not normal to wake people up. People just kind of get up when they get up, meetings and the like happen when people can make it, mealtimes are when you're hungry etc...so I've literally only ever been woken up either in the army, or when there was a fire at home. You see why I was alarmed?"

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 6:43 am

Verity watched with enjoyment and anticipation, as the runt Ludoviga leaned against the bathroom wall, strugging for breath after Verity's punch. Unfortunately, however, the vomitworks she was hoping for never came. As Ludoviga caught her breath, Verity hoped that she'd be dumb enough to lunge at her, at least then Verity could try messing up her uniform by dragging her across the bathroom floor, but sadly Ludoviga was not quite as dim as Verity hoped.

Instead she yelled at her in italian again, ('maldetta stronza', what ever that mean't, she'd have to check,) and oddly a few tears came out of only her right eye. Next, Ludoviga smiled and laughed at Verity, mocked her accent and again suggested that she was a hillbilly. After that, Ludoviga had blown her a sarcastic kiss in her direction and mooed at Verity as she left the bathroom. While the insults hurt a bit, Verity took satisfaction in knowing that a gut punch hurt a lot more.

Besides, Verity was used to hiding her accent, it really only came out when she wanted it to and when she felt particularly emotional. The only way such insults could really hurt her is if others had reason to join in, otherwise, even if Ludoviga tried to embarrass her with her insinuations that Verity was provincial, it'd only make Ludoviga look ridiculous.

Verity, after having finished using the bathroom, put back on her shirt and jacket, as she walked toward the bathroom exit. Nearby the spot Ludoviga had stood, Verity bent over to make sure she pulled her socks up properly, but as she did, she noticed some fresh, small spots of blood on the bathroom floor. She thought back to Ludoviga's weird one eye cry and concluded that it must have been her bloody tears.

"Hmm, bloody tears, something to look up alongside 'maldetta stronza'." Verity thought to herself as she stood up to walk out of the bathroom and to her room.

by **Camelone** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:03 am

Folaisia wrote:

7:22 AM
Lobby

While the students' morning feast was underway and with no urgency, a couple was heading to the lobby down with their luggage on their shoulders or their grips. The male had short blonde hair and a visible beard, wearing a University of Dalmashiel, Grangemouth sweatshirt, the female black hair fashioned in a ponytail with bangs and a zipped track jacket. Moreover, on the grip of the male's right hand was the key to Room 202. They were conversing about the comedic moments with their friends while up north, exchanging chuckles when the male noticed several exchange students hanging out in the lobby, including Detlef. And the sound of the commotion in the dining room made them turn to gaze at each other in astonishment. Then, the male strolled over to the students, despite the protests from his girlfriend that were inaudible to his ears.

"What's going with your other friends over there, laddie," asked the male, "You meagbhichean intend to cause another fight in here?"

"Seumas, let's go," the female then insisted, blocked by the persistent gaze of the male.

One of the other residents of the hostel had approached Athelhart and Detlef, addressing Detlef though, though his logic seemed rather flawed as the two high school students were nowhere close to the epicenter of the drama. Honestly though it seemed like it was settling down, just another thing he has to look forward to being around a bunch of teasa who have no unifying characteristics except that they are all out of their element. This is going to be an absolutely excellent time to be a student. With a sigh Athelhart gripped the bridge of his nose and shook his head in exasperation knowing full well this would not be the last time drama would unfold. Despite not being the one who was directly addressed he thought maybe he should interject now, seeing as they would be leaving soon for school it would be good to not respond in Detlef's... abrasive ways.

"I have no idea. I can't keep track of everyone and I was out here minding myself when whoever it was in there decided it would be a good idea to cause ruckus. There's a bunch of hotheads in the group." Athelhart explained with a shrug of his shoulders, he didn't witness it and it was not his problem.

by **Folaisia** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:14 pm

Alpin nods at her explanation.

"Yeah, I understand," he replies, "Well, you could just set an alarm that would go off at 6:30 AM. If you don't have such for some reason, well, you can sleep early and you can wake early at that. That what you don't have to bother with us knocking and waking you up. Anyways, seeing that you're done, you can head on up and pack up whatever you need. I reckon we're about to leave in a wee while. Alright? See you then."

Alpin was then off to the table to finish up his square sausage.

"Well, for your sake, I hope I wouldn't have to pack a punch against you both," Seumas replies, despite his girlfriend's repeated protests, "So far, you all got the whole hostel flocking to your floor, not to mention you've pissed the hell 'ev your dean, from what I've heard from the others. Even more so, your friends made me break my new phone."

He then shows the cracked screen of his Matharnach Leafone 4, and when he turned it on, the phone exhibited a black hole with cracks and random colored lights surrounding it.

"That right there cost me 1,500 pounds. You hear that?!"

"Seumas, come on," his girlfriend interjected.

"Not yet," Seumas responded in a calmer harsh tone, "Now, if any of you meagbhichean cause this kind of shit again, you can expect to end up in your bed with bruises. I'm not kidding you."

"Jesus, Seumas. Let's go already."

Seumas pauses and then points to them.

"You better watch it," he says in a silent tone.

The couple heads out to the doors, arguing for a while.

by **Normudria** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:06 pm

"Well... Good to know, I suppose." Siobhán laughed slightly, half out of politeness and half out of awkwardness. "I think I'll head up to my room. Don't want to be late, you know?" She stood from the table once again, bowing slightly. "I hope you don't mind. It's just that I want to be on time for my first day, you know? Good luck, hope to see you again soon!" With that, Siobhán was off to her room.

When she opened the door to Room 307, she saw Ludoviga laying on her bed, absolutely wiped. "Hey, Ludoviga," she asked, unsure of why she was laying in bed so late. "What's up?"

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:23 am

"Yeah, see you soon as well." he half-waved her goodbye.

Hearing the door open and knowing it was Siobhán, Ludoviga didn't bother to look over. "Buongiorno. What is up? Other than what happened this morning, nothing. Dealing with that cow bitch put me in a...como se dice? A sour mood." She sat up and looked to Siobhán "I'm sorry it got so out of control. I just do not like those kinds of things, the way she laughed behind your back. The polite thing would've been to laugh in your presence, instead she was hiding it behind her stupid mannish, rural hands!" Ludoviga stopped when she realized she was only getting madder, calming down with a sigh "Again I'm sorry if it got out of hand. I'm not like that, usually. So...did you get to talk to my brother? How did he seem?"

by **Polish Prussian Commonwealth** » Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:37 am

Les Etats Connuriste wrote:Emmanuelle got the feeling that people telling her where they were from and her consequently having no idea where any of these places were would be a recurring theme of her opening week here at St. Peadrus MacCallion. She at least figured that it would be an issue that most students would face and that in many cases it would be a two way street, not expecting others to have any idea where Connuriste was either. After Helena had said her piece, she found her head turning back towards Slava, but as she was doing that she caught something in the corner of the eye and was forced to do a double take and look back as Helena poured her coffee packet into her orange juice, Emmanuelle's mouth momentarily agape with shock at what she was witnessing, quickly turning back across to look at Slava again, her face creasing as she withheld any giggles about the strangeness of what she had just seen.

"I'm from Connuriste, just outside our capital city on the edge of the lake." she explained, distracted by what appeared to be a group of girls kicking off at one another. It was certainly stealing her attention from her present company, whilst Emmanuelle was generally averse to being involved in altercations, she sure loved watching them from a distance. Between putting coffee in one's orange juice, Khalid the master of Turkish oil wrestling, and whatever the fuck was happening now, she was almost worried that she was going to be one of the most normal foreign exchange students, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Normal wasn't what Emmanuelle had ever excelled at being or what she had ever wanted to be.

The Gristolian Imperium wrote:Duke Vyacheslav "Slava" Esperovich Bibikovsky
Gallagher-Blair Hostel, Grangemouth, Folaisia
Room 305

"Oh, I have heard somethings about the country, but-," Slava began saying, but stopped once noticing her putting her coffee packet into her orange juice. Taken aback for a moment, he comment, "Um, what are you doing? Does that taste good?" He nodded towards the glass of OJ. Trying to come off more confused than offended, he had never seen someone mix those two things before. Thinking back, the weirdest food habit he observed was when his childhood friend, Robert, would eat the tails off of shrimp. But this, Slava thought was different.

Giving a moment for Helena to respond, he responded to Emmanuelle, "Oh, I see. I never heard of Connuriste. Sorry." Slava shrugged trying to play off his lack of knowledge of foreign places, and continued, "So, why were you sent here? A better education, or just to see the world?" Going silent for a moment, he hoped he hadn't come off too blunt.

Helena looked up, and rubbed her eyes. "...hm? Oh. No. Tastes disgusting. But I don't have the time normally to make proper coffee, so this has to do."

by **Les Etats Connuriste** » Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:59 am

Emmanuelle was still confused as Helena offered her explanation, she didn't see it as any kind of justification for what she had just done. Helena might not normally have the time to make proper coffee, which implied that might be something she was used to, but Emmanuelle failed to see how right now played in to those circumstances, surely she had the time this morning. The young girl from Connuriste wasn't going to challenge that now however, it would sidetrack from her discussion with Slava - so she simply made a mental note of another thing odd about Helena aside from, you know, playing guitar at midnight whilst their other roommate was asleep.

"I was sent here for life experience, or something like that." she replied. "I don't really understand the actual thought process behind it, but I'm here now so I might as well get on with it." It was a half truth, she did understand why she had been 'exiled' out to a foreign school, it just so happened that Emmanuelle completely disagreed with the logic behind it - although she didn't particularly want to be so quick to give her family a bad name, not within minutes of meeting new people.

by **Holy Marsh** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 1:01 pm

Joint with GVH:

Suuentliok finished her enormous breakfast and slowly pushed her chair back, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed. As she proceeded back up to her room to pack, she smiled at Tarin..."So, this is a school? No wonder if you're rich in Velstrania you hire private tutors."

Tarin licked his lips, trying to get the last bit of meat and sauce off of his face. It had been very tasty though he was used to something of higher quality. No one could compare to what the Karelminors could provide. "I guess it is. I've only ever seen them, never been in one, especially of the size. Do you have your schedule?"

"No," Suuentliok laughed, "I bring someone who memorises things like that with me to these kinds of places, it's very helpful. What's first?"

"You have the physical class first, Sueen. There is a dress code as well."

"I've got Sport first?" Suuentliok asked, "Fuck me...are they tryint to kill me off or something? What am I expected to wear to it?"

"I think it is in the packet, in the dressing section. For the physical class, I think it was a white tee and black shorts, and a one-piece bathing for the sake of the swimming. I think they are provided. We can find out together."

"Is this the mens kit?" she asked, "Or the womens. I'll be wearing the mens today, I think."

"I think the kit they sent is the woman's kit. Are you planning to do the stretches beforehand? I can help."

"If they're halfway competent they'll have a warm-up at the start," she told him, resolving to get her kit changed, "I doubt I'll need to do anything beforehand. What about you?"

"Oh, I will not be in class. The handbook said I will be handed off to a supervisor for student pets during class hours. I'm sure I can get a run in with them, though."

"You're not a dog Tarin," Suuentliok reminded him, "I know sometimes you struggle with that one but...you're not

"I'm not a dog. I'm a kitsune!"

"In some parts of the country you'd still be considered a human, you know..."

"Perhaps. But I am a kitsune, and I am one of your family's pets. It is fine, Suuen. Just focus on your class. I'll be waiting for you at the end!"

She grinned "I carelessly forgot to pack that collar they recommended, I can be so forgetful sometimes."

He smiled. Yes, she 'forgot'. But like other times she had 'forgotten', he was sure they would be able to get him one. In a way, her forgetting and others then re-applying it only reinforced the mental conditioning. "We'll see, Suuen. Are you going to have fun?"

"Am I going to have fun wearing a kit designed for the wrong gender at an ungodly hour in the morning in the freezing cold?" she asked, "Take a guess

"Unlikely. But try, please?" He asked hopefully.

She sighed "One thing though, I can see myself smoking a lot more if it's always going to be like this."

Tarin kept his reaction hidden. What she smoked stunk and he smelled it at an entirely different level! Still, he wouldn't complain. "I'm sure you will grow to enjoy this place."

"I really can try and get you classified as a student if you'd prefer to do the lessons," she told him, "My mother might not agree with my views but you know she'd take my side if it was an argument between me and the school."

Tarin had been there when her mother had started the discussions. While she was far more adamant about Tarin being a pet, he had heard the other end of the call- he was considered a pet by this host nation already, without prodding. He didn't want her to fight the hosts on everything. "Don't worry about me, Suuen. Please just focus on being the best student you can be. You are capable of so much! Time to show them."

"I guess the hosts probably already hate me," Suuentliok laughed

"No, they cannot possibly hate you. It will just get time for all of you to settle. It will be fine."

"Oh really? Because I'm not their biggest fans right now, I kind of hate them

"Come now, just give them a chance. They are different but different is not bad, yes?"

"They knew the sort of people these programs attract and they decided that bunk beds was a good form of accommodation."

"If you seize this chance to learn from them, think how much more prepared you'll be when you're older and you av to deal with strange foreigners!"

"You know my mother felt the need to tell me to try not to get arrested?" she laughed

He nodded. "Yeah, though I know you won't be!"

"So do I, I've got a fucking diplomatic passport. Surely they're not so backwards they don't recognise that."

"Of course not," though he didn't believe that and it wasn't what he meant.

She began to pack her bag for school, hoisting it onto her shoulders. "Can you see my lighter?"

His eyes darted around. He had hidden it, with whatever else he could think would be contraband, under the nightstand. There was a small gap between the floor and the bottom of the stand, just enough to fit small items. "Yes," he said as he pushed the nightstand a little to be able to reach his paw underneath while not disturbing anything too much on top, pulling out the lighter as he allowed the nightstand to fall back into place. "Here you go," he said as he made sure to put all the items on top of the nightstand back in their proper locations.

"What have you put under there?" she asked, looking under the nightstand. "So that's where my knife has gone?" she asked, putting it into her bag.

"Suuen, please do not take the knife with you," he pleaded, giving her the big ol' pleading eye look. He knew that it was not only contraband but possibly very dangerous for her, and him. He didn't like burying bodies that much and he didn't want her to get into trouble. Diplomatic immunity or not, violence on the scale of a knife would be bad news.

"We can't all rip peoples throats out with our teeth, you know."

"Yeah, true. But you can certainly outfight them."

She sighed and handed the knife over, not able to resist the pleading eyes look

He took it and hid it back under the stand, letting out a soft sigh of contentment. "Good. Okay, are we ready?"

"I'd say so."

"Okay," he said as he stood next to her, "let's go. You're going to do great, Suuen."

by **Diahon** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 6:24 pm

7:30 am, or just about.

A very hearty, childlike laugh filled the corridor of the hostel's third floor. What the subject of that laughter was would now be completely lost, as Ajay Nath Thakur signaled to his newfound friend to catch up with him. "Hey, Steppie, step it up, we're here!"

Then, oblivious to that very same Steppie's hushed murmuring and seemingly oblivious to his much shorter friend's three bags to Ajay's slim knapsack and... a toolbox?... Ajay flitted from door to door, checking out which room was to be theirs -- and a roommate's! HOW EXCITING! HOW EXTRAORDINARY! FIRST TIME FIRST TIME! -- for the next few months.

"Three-oh-three... three-oh-four... three-oh-... HEY STEPPIE! THIS IS THE ROOM! THREE-OH-SIX! GOTTA KNOCK NOW, ALRIGHT?", Ajay boomed to his laggard friend, still murmuring to himself or so it now seemed to him.

Three swift, sharp knocks thus followed.

Ajay waited for someone to open the door, barely keeping himself from exploding out of sheer joy for that small stretch, even as his newfound friend finally wheeled up beside him, with an expression less truly there and more truly dead.

by **Normudria** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 6:25 pm

"He seemed... He seemed like a guy who liked to take charge and be the dominant one, I guess you could say." Siobhán wanted to say her feelings about him as neutrally as possible—if she liked her brother a lot, she wouldn't want to say her opinion that he was a bullish, aggressive chauvinist to her face. She then wondered if Ludoviga thought that her own hands looked mannish, given her own lower-class upbringings. Then again, she hadn't told her that part, so maybe not. "He offered me a smoke outside before we all left for mass, which I think is pretty funny, I guess. Is smoking more customary in your nation, then? Usually in Normudria it's kept as a private affair, especially if you're underage."

by **Trumpisslavia** » Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:19 pm

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA --"

This is the worst. Just the worst.

Trudging along on three burdensome bags that he nevertheless insisted on carrying himself, one on either arm and the last on his back, Stephen Daldry -- his "friend's" unfortunate "Steppie", as it was neither his nickname nor was he amused by Ajay anointing him with the same -- said little (what little escaped his mouth was through his murmuring, which tended to happen almost exclusively when he was really stressed, with no way to destress-- and was he ever really stressed now).

Well, what was laughing about again, anyway? Stephen wondered to himself (or thought so, mostly, at any rate). Bah, we're here, let's get this over with already, he thought to himself (or so he thought).

His mind rolled back to their first meeting, just a few hours ago at the airport, resisting the temptation to have his eyes roll in sympathy, even as Ajay practically jumped from room to room, looking for their... not yet, Steve, not yet.

Here he was, minding his own business, trying to fish a map of Grangemouth from his backpack, silently resolved to walk all the way to the hostel if need be, when a heavily jacketed, cherub-faced taller brown kid, positively glistening smartphone in one hand, a... toolbox?... in another, boom his way.

Literally booming voice, like just now, only a few more decibels and a pitch higher, if that were possible. He said...

Fuck it.

"Alright," Stephen replied in a hoarse, almost imperceptible voice, something that caught him by surprise -- he was supposed to project a demeanor of calm friendliness towards strangers at all times, and yet he's losing it to an Indian... no, Moscan kid with Bengali antecedents?

No, no, have to make myself presentable, he told himself as he sidled alongside Ajay, who was bubbling with all the irrepressible energy fate somehow found the means to compress into a human frame.

And so he waited. For a beat. And --

"Ajay." More loudly and confidently this time, though he was still unsure about the face; he did not dare look at the boy next to him. "No one there." He tried to turn the knob; it was unlocked.

"Excellent." And with that, he entered the room.

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:52 am

"Yeah, he can be like that. An annoyance. But if he comes across as rude, he doesn't mean it, I hope. We just tend to speak what's on our minds and very straightforward, it's funny to read tourist reviews on the internet." when asked about cigarette culture in her country, Ludoviga almost laughed "Customary? It is like a subculture over there. One of the biggest crops in the rural provinces is tobacco. While not everyone does it, I would say maybe...one in four men smoke. Maybe one in six women." she said, making a rough estimation with the amount of times she had seen people do it. "Usually they stop when the kids start coming, naturally. I don't smoke, that much. It's seen as a bit improper but older women tend to pick up smoking again."

She stood up from the bed, stretching her arms and letting out a groan. "Anyways, if he was offering you a smoke he was just looking for a smoking buddy. He asked me too earlier. Odd that you people would consider it a private affair." Ludoviga checked the time on her phone, wondering when they'd be leaving. "So when are we supposed to leave for the mass? Do you know?"

by **Normudria** » Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:23 pm

"I haven't the foggiest," Siobhán said with a shrug. "I guess it's less that it's private and more that it's... looked down upon, you know? People think about the health risks more. I guess a lot of teens do smoke in Normudria."

She picked up her bags, checking one last time to make sure everything was in there. "Should we go down to the lobby and wait or hang around in the room a while?"

by **Diahon** » Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:03 am

Ajay followed Stephen meekly into Room 306, the pep in his step gone for the time being as he pondered whether or not Stephen was right in entering, if their roommate really wasn't...

... and he wasn't and whoa!

"Uwaaaaaaaaa~" was all Ajay could mouth out as he marveled at the interior: bunk beds, restroom door slightly ajar, effects scattered around, the works. All in all, a normal lived-in dorm room, recently empty -- but a wholly new experience to the teenage Moscan, who always had a room to himself or shared a bed with either parent (or, in rare occasions, with either girlfriend -- chastely, of course, for now) back home or on the road.

Stephen, for his part, stared at him, face blanked out... till something managed to capture their attention. Or, more precisely, rang.

Ajay immediately reached for his phone -- the latest-model Matrix XM10 foldable smartphone, exclusive to the Moscan market for the time being, and a personal gift from its CEO -- before the fact that the ringing had stopped, that it was Stephen's phone that was ringing registered on him. While Stephen held in his hands a comparatively battered-looking Samsung, it seemed that both of them had the same ringtone, something intriguing to quiz Stephen about, later, as the latter, attention absorbed by the sudden call, sat down on the bottom bunk bed.

Whistling a Bengali ditty to himself (at first, before Stephen hissed a "Stop that!" at his direction -- he was too loud, evidently), Ajay quickly opened one of his bags and pulled out the St. Peadrus MacCallion uniform -- also a novel thing to him, as no schools in either Moscareinas nor Dahon ever required students to wear any -- along with a towel, comb, hair gel, electric toothbrush, and a sachet of toothpaste.

After zipping up the bag and placing it and the toolbox next to the bunk bed, Ajay then wordlessly entered the restroom for a quick freshening.

***

Stephen was done with his call, and he himself lying down on the bottom bunk bed, by the time Ajay was finished with his toiletries -- it had been a quick three minutes of fastidious grooming, and Ajay was among many other things a fast dresser. Yet one look at the deadness that was Stephen's face (or what he could see of it, partly obscured as it was by the phone he continued to hold above it) convinced Ajay to defer the questions for later... much later.

Without another word, he took from one of the pockets of his new coat a small sleek black container and popped it open; out came a pair of wireless earbuds, which he then plopped into his ears. Fishing his phone out of the other pocket, he swiftly opened a music app and set the playlist to random, then just as discreetly sneaked out of the room.

by **Lux Pulchrae** » Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:05 am

"Sure let's go to the lobby. Nothing to do in here but do nothing." with her bag already downstairs, she gladly left the room but as she entered the hall she noticed a little boy leaving her brother's room.

"Scusa!" she called out to him but to no avail. She then walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder "Scusa boy. What were you doing in that room?" ignorant of him being a student. Maybe he's just one of the guest's kids.

St. Peadrus MacCallion Exchange Program REBOOTED (IC)

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